McAfee is increasingly relying on the channel to boost sales of its security products from security information event management appliances to endpoint security software.

McAfee's channel chief, Gavin Struthers, said the channel generates at least 80 percent of the company's sales revenue. Increasing revenue from the channel is the primary reason the firm has been making subtle changes to its SecurityAlliance Partner Program, adding support and training where needed.

Key to the success is Security Connected, a strategy to get resellers to sell end-to-end deployments of McAfee across the endpoint, the network and the cloud, Struthers said. The Security Connected framework integrates multiple McAfee products and services as well as third-party McAfee technology partners.

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The security industry saw more threats and funding opportunities in 2017, with massive data breaches and ransomware attacks crippling major institutions, and vendors tapping into the deep pockets of private equity and IPOs.